Here's a guided River Tay salmon fishing guest fishing his way methodically down through the Meetings Pool on the Upper Kinnaird salmon beat which is a perfect holding area for salmon in medium to low water levels from mid March through to October each year. Look at the beautiful fully leafed oak trees on the far side of the river.

This shot on the River Tay was taken to show the little riffle of water at the side of the river directly in front of this oak tree where running salmon love to stop. A salmon fishing guide recognises these little holding areas on salmon beats of Scotland and will make sure the fishing trip guests cover them frequently during their fishing days.

This fine Scottish Summer salmon is lying in the fine meshed McLean 32 inch landing net on the riverbed cobble stones in the shallow water margins. A salmon fishing holiday guest of mine was the fortunate salmon fisher who hooked and landed this salmon on the River Tay near the mouth of the River Tummel while I was working as his personal salmon fishing guide.

The River Tay's Newtyle Beat has many good salmon fishing pools that can be fished with a fly or a spinner. This fly fishing angler is just approaching one such hotspot at the tail of The Trap Pool. I took this shot while working as a salmon fishing guide for this salmon fisher. This fine photograph was taken during August when many fish are present in this lovely Tay salmon pool.

A lovely elevated photo of a salmon fishing trip angler in wading gear in the river Tweed next to a long shingle bank. This lovely shot was taken in mid Summer near Galashiels where we host many River Tweed salmon fishing holiday guests. Our Tweed salmon fishing guides always bring clients to quality salmon water like this which the beautiful River Tweed has an abundance of.

Stay On The Salmon Pool Move

By Jock Monteith 21st April 2026

Effective water coverage plays a big part of success in this wonderful pursuit and good spacings between each swing of your fly will get you closer to a fish that is willing to cooperate.

Don't be fooled by a 'lunging mermaid' as that fish is likely just a decoy to keep you away from the 'taker' that's ready for your fly in the next pool.

I took this shot of one of the most famous River Tay salmon fishing huts which dates back to 1970 when Willie Laird the ghillie and a few colleagues sited this local Victorian golf course hut on the banks of the Tay as the fishing hut for the Newtyle Beat. Look at the lovely woodland to the rear of the hut and the perfect grass bank in the foreground for salmon anglers and salmon guides to fish from.

Salmon Fishing In Scotland

On our big salmon rivers like the Tay where your 'water to fish ratio' is is always going to reduce your odds of locating a taking fish don't waste too much time trying to force a salmon to take that's continually showing and not responding. Normally if a take is going to occur it will happen fairly quickly and soon after a salmon sees your fly for the first time (if you're going to pester a 'jumper' multiple differing brief periodic approaches over the full course of the day may get a result if you're tactful enough with your sub surface thoughts!).

Knowing how and where to wade through a salmon pool like this fisher is doing for minimal disruption is a vital skill to master in Scottish salmon fishing. Most anglers think that wading deeper is better but the true facts about wading are quite the opposite. Observe that this salmon fisher is only at knee depth so as not disturb the salmon pool which is essential for salmon fishing success.

Do Not Overfish A Salmon Pool

If you sit over salmon that are clearly not going to be caught your only training them to accept your fly's presence instead of searching effectively for the one that is in the right frame of mind to have a go! On a personal basis I'll teach our salmon fishing trip guests to move a minimum of 3 feet between every cast and apply this riverbank movement as either the fly hits the water if throwing a mend or when hand lining in prior to recasting (if a mend is not required). Take a measure from your rod's butt section and stick to it like glue and you'll be amazed at how much fly water you'll be able to cover during the fishing day. Self evaluation of your actual daily water coverage should tell you whether you've been in with a chance or not as the case may be!

Here's a truly amazing piece of salmon water on the Kinnaird Estate near Pitlochry which is a firm favourite for visiting salmon anglers. Salmon love to sit close in to this riverbank beside the broken water riffles you can see in this photograph. Personally I seldom fail to hook a salmon while fishing through this perfect River Tay salmon pool.

Deploy Good Salmon Water Coverage

If you think about effective water coverage properly and how good spaced fly swing movements will increase your chances of placing your fly in front of a taking fish at some point during the fishing day then you'll appreciate the logic of this important yet seldom taught salmon fishing skill. Being a 'heron' on the riverbank will very rarely work and it will also diminish the salmon fishing day for other guests on the beat who are trying to focus on effective riverbank movement. Increase your chance of catching a salmon and stay on the move throughout your fishing day is my advice without trying to bore a fish to death. The real objective is to 'startle' a fish with the presence of your fly and if you do that via proper fly swing spacings you may just obtain the required predatory reaction! Letting a salmon see too much of the fly through minimised riverbank movement (or heroning!) will only reduce the chances of a take (and your water coverage) so less is definitely more in salmon fly fishing.

Always Maintain A Water Coverage Objective

Make your salmon fishing day's water coverage as effective as you can and plan out how to get through all of the water you've been allocated for the morning & afternoon salmon fishing sessions. If you're fishing a quiet beat and not paired up with another angler on the same pool try to work out a battle plan that swims your fly through the known 'hot spots' twice instead of just the once. The second time you fish through a known salmon lie try a slightly deeper fly if the first swim through didn't gain any sub surface attention. Thinking from a salmon's point of view and what's likely to make it come off its lie for a closer inspection of your fly can often pay off. This is the level of sub-surface tactical salmon fishing planning our professional salmon fishing guides teach our new fishers or assist existing fishers with to improve their success levels.

When A Salmon Takes Your Fly

Normally when your mind is dwelling on a far distant subject from the 'task in hand' is when the salmon 'take' often occurs. With that in mind I've always wondered if salmon can sense eagerness from anglers and it wouldn't surprise me if they could given the fact they're astute enough to be able to navigate from Greenland back to their native rivers. Enjoy your casting and riverbank movement and become a salmon fly water coverage machine! If you do then sooner or later you will no doubt be rewarded for your fine efforts. Go into 'automatic pilot' once you know your fly size, swim depth & swim pace are perfect and take your mind away into that far distant free dwelling zone which plays a big yet unspoken part in the attraction of this amazing sport. By doing so you've just put yourself into complete 'stealth' mode and it's only a matter of time before your next sudden salmo salar adrenalin fix!